Current and historical television and movies tell a story revealed through a combination of audio-visual components called “scenes.” Although the writer and director can include the suggestion of many other sub-stories and sub-plots, generally only one specific set of scenes is developed and produced for serial exhibition. The exhibition of the program or movie therefore represents a single story product as told through a static beginning, middle and end.
Some articles addressing the promise of high-definition digital television have anticipated the ability to utilize different sub-channels to include different camera angles, particularly in sporting events. Different camera angles alone, however, do not enable the creation of deeper and more complex stories and storylines, as does the disclosed process.
Some games and DVD's have suggested the ability to select the direction of the plot line from a choice of pre-cut scenes which could then be assembled in new ways. The process of searching and adding the scenes is still clumsy and currently there is no way of adapting such technology to the broadcast, cable or theatrical environments.
Still other innovations have disclosed means to assemble scenes based on a viewer's preference, such as in response to ratings of sexual, violence or language content.
All of the pre-existing approaches involve the presentation of a serially assembled sequence of scenes.
In recent years, some experimentation has been done with live performance “stage plays” providing simultaneously unfolding plot lines. For example, the play Tamara by John Krizanc, first performed in 1981, involves over 100 scenes played in a large set in which the audience “invisibly” joins the actors. At the conclusion of each scene, the audience may elect to follow most any of the characters (who generally go in different directions) to their next scene in a different part of the set. The audience, which starts together, is fractioned as different groups follow different characters in separate and distinct scenes, joining again periodically at common scenes, intermission and the end of the play, at which time they can share their varied experiences. The overall story does not change, but the parts of it that an audience member chooses to see are highly variable. Further, once choosing a path or character to follow, an audience member cannot choose a different path until the next common scene involving several actors. That type of multi-dimensional live production cannot be replicated using traditional television or motion picture production methodologies or any previously disclosed process.
The following prior art patents are found to be relevant to the present invention:    1. U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,700 issued to Freeman on Jul. 11, 1989 for “Interactive Television System for Providing Full Motion Synched Compatible Audio/Visual Displays from Transmitted Television Signals” (hereafter the “Freeman Patent”);    2. U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,730 issued to Reimer on Jul. 14, 1998 for “System and Method for Enabling the Creation of Personalized Movie Presentations and Personalized Movie Collections” (hereafter the “Reimer Patent”;    3. U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,320 issued to Vancelette on Apr. 13, 1999 for “Multi-Channel Television System with Viewer-Selectable Video and Audio” (hereafter the “Vancelette Patent”);    4. U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,833 issued to Abecassis on Dec. 14, 1999 for “Disc Storing a Variable-Content-Video and a User Interface” (hereafter the “'833 Abecassis Patent”);    5. U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,234 issued to Taira on Dec. 28, 1999 for “Method of Reproducing” (hereafter the “Taira Patent”);    6. U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,444 issued to Abecassis on Nov. 21, 2000 for “Motion Picture Including Within a Duplication of Frames” (hereafter the “'444 Abecassis Patent”);    7. U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,216 B1 issued to Abecassis on Jul. 31, 2001 for “Intermittently Arranged Frames for Instantaneously Shifting Among Video Segments” (hereafter the “'216 Abecassis Patent”);    8. U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,482 B1 issued to Seidman on Oct. 2, 2001 for “System for Two-Way Digital Multimedia Broadcast and Interactive Services (hereafter the “Seidman Patent”);    9. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2002/0053089 A1 to Massey published on May 2, 2002 for “Methods and Apparatus for Presenting Interactive Entertainment” (hereafter the “Massey Patent”);    10. U.S. Pat. No. 6,429,879 B1 issued to Sturgeon on Aug. 6, 2002 for “Customization Schemes for Content Presentation in a Device with Converged Functionality” (hereafter the “Sturgeon Patent”); and    11. U.S. Pat. No. 6,463,207 B1 issued to Abecassis on Oct. 8, 2002 for “Playing a Variable-Content-Video Having a User Interface” (hereafter the “'207 Abecassis Patent”).
None of the above prior art patents disclose the creative novel features of the present invention of having a multidimensional presentation having at least two interrelated stories, storyline or story parts in audio-visual media and simultaneously delivering parallel tracks of the at least two interrelated stories, storyline or story parts in a manner so that viewing can be alternated among the parallel tracks. In the prior art, it is either compartmentalized so that various prearranged components can be pieced together at the beginning and a viewer cannot alternate at any time from one track to the other track, or there are other methods of various prearranged programs that can be preselected at an initial time. None of these prior art patents disclose simultaneous streaming of parallel stories with divergent and convergent scenes so that a viewer can alternate between the multiplicity of various scenes to create his own individualized combination of story sequences.
Additionally, the prior art does not disclose a system in which the interrelated stories, storylines or story parts are multiplexed on at least a single track, allowing the viewer to switch between the interrelated stories, storylines or story parts at any time during the viewing of the program.